2012 Passat HID DIY Install

panther_v

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 28, 2003
Location
orange county, so calif
TDI
'13 Passat TDI SEL
i installed deAutoKey head lights and interior lights shortly after i took delivery of a 2013 Passat TDI SEL back in summer of '13. The lights worked great, but a few interior lights started to flicker/fail. The good news is that they stand 100% behind their products. I contacted them and they sent out replacement bulbs.

Unfortunately due to the dieselgate, the beloved TDI has been parked since last July. I will be sending it back to VW. Most likely I will remove all my led bulbs and put back the original bulbs.
 

Roishe Cheng

Veteran Member
Joined
May 25, 2013
Location
South Bronx, NYC
TDI
2013 Passat
+1 VR6Ghost.

YMMV, but I'm not sure how anyone can drive this car with the halogens. They are downright terrible. The first thing I did to my B7 a month after getting it was a DAK HID kit for it. Night and day difference. Coming from other cars with HIDs, I couldn't step back down. Did a lot of tests and couldn't find any blinding, never high beamed once and even drove behind some of my friends to have them check. Best upgrade safety wise.

Now that it's gone and I have a Q50 with nicely focused LED headlights with great beam pattern dispersion, my standards have been uplifted ever further :).

Just wanted to add to this thread...

DeAutoKey has created a unique kit for the B7 Passat, that I installed on my 2012 3 months ago. Not only are the bulbs custom-wrapped to ensure zero glare, the 35w kit carries a lifetime warranty and slim-line ballasts for $144.99. It also employs metal bulb adapters that are of much higher quality/durability than the typical plastic adapters you'll find everywhere else.

I can say that this is easily the best upgrade option available for the B7. IMO there isn't a single upgrade for the money that makes a greater impact, adds more value/safety/performance than this kit.

After driving with these bulbs for a few months, I ordered another set and installed them on my Mom's B7. Especially for cars without the factory fogs installed, this kit has a dramatic effect on night-time visibility and with the hefty warranty included and high-quality parts employed, I am looking forward to a very fruitful relationship with this company.
 

VR6Ghost

New member
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Location
Elk Grove, CA
TDI
Mk6 Jetta TDI
@Roishe Cheng, totally agree. Q50, eh? Those are really nice cars, spendy but worth it. The VQ engines are some of the best in the business and they've been refined nicely for Infiniti-duty. The biggest gripe I have with my B7 is FWD...if I could've combined the VR6/DSG with a RWD chassis, I'd be over the moon. There just aren't many tires, this side of DOT slicks, that can put the kind of torque to the ground that the VR6 puts out without spinning hopelessly.
 

Roishe Cheng

Veteran Member
Joined
May 25, 2013
Location
South Bronx, NYC
TDI
2013 Passat
@Roishe Cheng, totally agree. Q50, eh? Those are really nice cars, spendy but worth it. The VQ engines are some of the best in the business and they've been refined nicely for Infiniti-duty. The biggest gripe I have with my B7 is FWD...if I could've combined the VR6/DSG with a RWD chassis, I'd be over the moon. There just aren't many tires, this side of DOT slicks, that can put the kind of torque to the ground that the VR6 puts out without spinning hopelessly.
Agreed, Infiniti finally listened to their customers. I had three of them over the years before they became a bit boring. Now, in twin turbo V6 + AWD form with an awesome infotainment system, I'm really happy. Car comes stock with LED headlights and foglights, my days of modding lighting are over.

Yeah, the traction with many of the FWD platforms leaves quite a bit to be desired.
 

PB_NB

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Location
Vancouver, B.C.
TDI
1999 New Beetle
I really like the look of the 6000 K bulbs but if there are no projector lens in front of the HID bulbs, they really don't focus the light resulting in the blinding light to oncoming cars.

I think the solution is LED's. I have projectors in all my vehicles and recently changed the HID's out on the Element. I found some LED's that provide similar brightness to the HID's. What I noticed about the LED's is the source of light comes from 2 tiny squares mounted at the same location as old style incandescents. HID's on the other hand use a long filament to create the light.

LED's are a great alternate to HID's without the problems associated.
 

VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e


That's some bad scatter from the LED fog light; the beam control is almost non-existent. Look at the side-by-side - the halogen has a defined cutoff, whereas the LED just sends light everywhere, including all the way up to the field of the low beam above it.
 

VR6Ghost

New member
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Location
Elk Grove, CA
TDI
Mk6 Jetta TDI
Hmm...



That's some bad scatter from the LED fog light; the beam control is almost non-existent. Look at the side-by-side - the halogen has a defined cutoff, whereas the LED just sends light everywhere, including all the way up to the field of the low beam above it.
I can appreciate your perspective...however, being a fog light, really the only cutoff that matters would be the north one. From a lighting perspective, having a tight grouping and defined cutoff from a fog light, is not ideal. Rather, having a field of light that covers the greatest arc without exceeding the cutoff of the low beam seems to be the most beneficial. In practice, the LED fogs far exceed the throw and intensity of the halogen bulbs, which allows for far greater off-axis visibility, intensely illuminating the immediate area in front of the vehicle, expanding the view of the sides of the road and more seamlessly integrating into the lighting of the low beam. If this were a low beam, this would be terrible and would most certainly cause blinding to other drivers, but being that the fog is so much lower on the vehicle and aimed lower, the less-defined cutoff ends up being a bonus instead of an impediment.
 

VR6Ghost

New member
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Location
Elk Grove, CA
TDI
Mk6 Jetta TDI
Update

Updated to include some recent video of the finished project.

Rear - https://youtu.be/2sdEKUPk1CU

Front - https://youtu.be/t5XAw2Z2KcA

Output -
https://youtu.be/244bvE3qp8Q

:)

Just wanted to add to this thread...

DeAutoKey has created a unique kit for the B7 Passat, that I installed on my 2012 3 months ago. Not only are the bulbs custom-wrapped to ensure zero glare, the 35w kit carries a lifetime warranty and slim-line ballasts for $144.99. It also employs metal bulb adapters that are of much higher quality/durability than the typical plastic adapters you'll find everywhere else.

I can say that this is easily the best upgrade option available for the B7. IMO there isn't a single upgrade for the money that makes a greater impact, adds more value/safety/performance than this kit.

After driving with these bulbs for a few months, I ordered another set and installed them on my Mom's B7. Especially for cars without the factory fogs installed, this kit has a dramatic effect on night-time visibility and with the hefty warranty included and high-quality parts employed, I am looking forward to a very fruitful relationship with this company.

For those interested, I have also replaced every other bulb on my Passat with CANBus LEDs from this same company. Though expensive, 100% of them are error free, direct-replacements and also come with a lifetime warranty. All told, I've spent around $800 retro-fitting the interior and exterior lighting, so this is not a cheap endeavor. But I couldn't be happier with the end result. My car is Candy White with the Beige Silk leatherette and the higher-kelvin rating of the LED bulbs lends a far more modern and inviting air to the cabin. Outside, the blinkers, brake lights, reverse lights, license plate lights and fogs do an excellent job of creating some much needed visual presence without silly carbon fiber/aftermarket antics. Overall the conversion exudes the kind of refined performance you'd expect to enjoy on an Audi, and it looks outstanding on a VeeDub.

The final upgrade I'd recommend for those that have the factory fog lights would be the OPT7 FluxBeam LED bulbs. Talk about your night and day differences...at 3,500 lumens per bulb, this upgrade will transform your side-to-side and short distance visibility in a very drastic way. The install could not be simpler and the bulbs are widely available. I did have 1 bulb driver die on me a few weeks after install, but one call to OPT7 and I have a replacement driver shipped free of charge within 2 days. Since then, I have had zero issues. These bulbs come with a 2 year warranty and even if they die after that point, I'd re-purchase this set just for the difference it makes with no complaint.

So, do I recommend everyone go through the time/expense/hassle of retro-fitting their whole car? Nope...super expensive and time consuming. But for the average user, I would recommend the HID kit and, if so inclined, the fogs at a minimum. Only lighting nuts like myself would ever see the benefit in spending so much time and money on just lighting. But for those lighting crazies out there...IT IS AWESOME.











 

Jetta_Pilot

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
TDI
2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
VR6Ghost, just my opinion but the license plate lights are way too much.
 

deAutoLED.com

Vendor
Joined
Jul 26, 2008
Location
NY
TDI
2002 jetta TDI
I can appreciate your perspective...however, being a fog light, really the only cutoff that matters would be the north one. From a lighting perspective, having a tight grouping and defined cutoff from a fog light, is not ideal. Rather, having a field of light that covers the greatest arc without exceeding the cutoff of the low beam seems to be the most beneficial. In practice, the LED fogs far exceed the throw and intensity of the halogen bulbs, which allows for far greater off-axis visibility, intensely illuminating the immediate area in front of the vehicle, expanding the view of the sides of the road and more seamlessly integrating into the lighting of the low beam. If this were a low beam, this would be terrible and would most certainly cause blinding to other drivers, but being that the fog is so much lower on the vehicle and aimed lower, the less-defined cutoff ends up being a bonus instead of an impediment.
Thank you for the support and photos/videos.

Our fog LEDs will spread more light down the road/sides and won't cause any blinding glare.

We test every single bulb in the housing to make sure it works 100% without glare or any issues, people are simply looking at one photo and it is hard to tell vs real-life situations and driving.

Against the wall it might not look that great but when you get on the road it will spread light evenly without blinding anyone which is what you want.

To avoid any confusion you can see here our H7RC low beam:
http://deautokey.com/product/passat-b7-slim-digital-h7-hid-headlight-kit-full-set

fogs:
http://deautokey.com/product/passat-b7-complete-led-fog-light-kit

all leds:
http://deautokey.com/category/shop-by-car-model-vw-passat-b7-nms-2012
 

thundershorts

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Location
west chester pa
TDI
2015 passat tdi sel premium 2015 golf s tdi gls tdi b5.5, 2002 eurovan,Peugeot 505 td,Citroen cx25 prestige
For automotive electrical I use sta-brite solder with rosin flux, its a high silver content tin alloy and will not corrode, never use radio solder which contains lead.
 
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